Sofia, Bulgaria is the place where Division II Group B of the 2024 IIHF World Championships will be held. Georgia is here due to punishment from Group A; Belgium is looking to move up after finishing second last year; Taiwan joins the group; and Turkey and New Zealand hopes to hang on. Learn more about each squad with this preview.
With the New Jersey Devils and 15 other NHL teams not participating in the NHL playoffs, many NHL players have been invited by their countries to represent them at the IIHF World Championships in Czechia this May. For the Devils, Luke Hughes, Ondrej Palat, Tomas Nosek, Simon Nemec, and Nico Hischier at a minimum will go to play for their national team.
However, that will be for the main World Championship. The top level. The IIHF World Championships has a ladder system with four divisions with two groups in Division I, II, and III and a promotion/relegation system between groups and divisions. The one in May is the one for the World Championship. For the hockey world where the sport is far from major, they have been playing in their own groups since late February. Of course, the IIHF scheduled Division III’s groups in February and March; Division IV just wrapped up (Mongolia won it and the Mongolia-Kuwait game had nearly 400 PIM in it); and the next few weeks will feature the other three divisions in the men’s side of the tourney. To get somewhat excited for the upcoming main WCs and to hopefully put a little more attention on national teams that get very little in hockey, I will preview these other groups in order of schedule. Welcome to Division II Group B. Because the IIHF scheduled Group A to start today.
The Tournament
The Location: The Winter Sports Palace in Sofia, Bulgaria
The Game Days: April 22, April 23, April 25, April 27, and April 28. Yes, this tournament will end as Division I begins.
The Game Times: Wake up to more hockey as the games will be held at 6:00 AM ET, 9:30 AM ET, and 1:00 PM ET.
The Format: Six teams. First place wins gold and gets promotion to Division I – Group B. Second place and third place get silver and bronze medals and nothing more. Sixth place will be relegated to Division II Group B and replaced by their winner, which will be decided almost in parallel with this tourney.
The standings use a 3-2-1-0 format. Regulation wins are worth three points, post-regulation wins are worth two points, post-regulation losses are worth one, and regulation losses are worth nothing. Any ties in points are first decided by head-to-head points, and head-to-head goal difference, and then head-to-head goals scored. In other words: Win in regulation and win big if you can.
And make sure your team is properly registered with the IIHF to play for the national team. Not doing so can result in forfeiture and relegation. Which is what happened to Georgia last year.
The IIHF Tournament Page: Here it is with a full day-by-day schedule with times set for your local time zone.
A Broadcast?: Both groups in Division III did and the IIHF Tournament Page linked to them. I would think if Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kyrgyzstan had someone streaming the game on Youtube, then someone in Serbia and Bulgaria (Group B) can, right?
What Happened Last Year: First, in Division II Group A, Georgia finished in second with four wins out of five games, losing only to the eventual group winners, Spain. However, it was judged by the IIHF that they had an ineligible roster. I am not sure if it was a player or multiple players. The IIHF decided to throw out their results and send them down to Group B as punishment.
Second, in Division III Group A, Taiwan won all of their games by a staggering 30-4 goal difference. That earned them promotion. It probably helped that North Korea did not show. As such, Taiwan is up in this group.
Third, the Division II Group B actual tourney in 2023. United Arab Emirates moved up to this group after 2022 and beat everyone to get promoted to Group A, which starts today. Their closest game was a 4-3 win over Belgium, who ended up taking second place as their only loss was to UAE. Bulgaria, New Zealand, and Turkey trickled down in that order in terms of wins. Only Mexico earned no wins, which saw them get sent down to Division III Group A. Which they proceeded to get wrecked in Kyrgyzstan earlier this year so they are going down to Group B in 2024.
That is how we have this year’s group: Belgium, New Zealand, Georgia, Turkey, Taiwan, and the hosts, Bulgaria.
Bulgaria
The National Team Website: Bulgarian Ice Hockey Federation
The Roster: Here is the roster per Elite Prospects. I whiffed on the young guys from last year’s roster making this one. But Hungary is still committing to the youth to a degree. Outside of one guy over 40 and one guy pushing 40.
The Nickname per Wikipedia: N/A, per their Wikipedia page. I’m surprised it isn’t lion based given their crest, but whatever.
Last Year: They finished third in Division II Group B by going 3-0-0-2 and being out-scored by one, 19-20. They lost to the two teams ahead of them, United Arab Emirates and Belgium. They beat the three they finished ahead of: New Zealand, Turkey, and Mexico. A solid bronze in Istanbul.
Sofia is the Place of Success: Sofia has been the home of 7 World Championship tourneys in the lower divisions. Outside of 1995 and 2009, Bulgaria has earned a medal – a top three finish – most of the time a tourney is in Sofia. The last time Sofia hosted a WC tourney, the Bulgarians took gold in 2019 to earn promotion from Division III to where they are now. While they secured their spot in 2022 in Reykjavik and again in 2023 in Istanbul, the only other time they took first in a group was in Luxembourg way back in 2014 (which led to relegation two years later) and in South Africa in 1998 under the old group system. Keep in mind that Bulgaria has been in tournaments as far back as 1963. Needless to say, home ice historically favors the Bulgarians winning something.
They did take third last year in Istanbul. This almost in spite of not having any scorers in the top 10 in the group or their top goaltender, Dimitar Dimitrov, posting a sub-90% save percentage of 89.6%. The squad suffered big losses to UAE (7-1) and Belgium (6-1) but got big wins over New Zealand (7-2), Turkey (5-3), and Mexico (4-2). They took care of business as a unit to get that bronze medal.
Surprising to me, their top scorer was Alexei Yotov, who is listed as a forward and a defenseman at EP, and is 45 years old. He did not play for any club between 2006 and 2023 as he just kept playing for Bulgaria’s national team. He was apparently signed to Irbis Skate Sofia, a team that had plenty of the Bulgarian squad in 2023, but he did not play. It is unclear if he will return, but if he does, then he may not be completely out of his element. (Update: Yotov is on the roster)
Adding to the surprise of his production is that the Bulgarian team was otherwise quite young with only four players at age 30 or over. Most of the roster was under the age of 25 with even five skaters and a goalie all under the age of 20. In fact, they brought three U-18 players in Antani Todotov, Bogomil Dikov, and Aleksander Kozhurharov. The latter is one to watch as he played for HC Slavia Sofia’s senior team in addition to their junior teams as well as on the national teams for the World U-18 Division II Group B tourney, the WJC Division III Group A tourney, and Olympic qualifying games. Outside of the Olympic qualifiers, Kozhurharov has been a producer of points. I would not be shocked if he does come to Sofia this week and continue to get on the scoresheet. In the bigger picture, the fact that Bulgaria brought so many young players to the tournament last year means they know they need to begin to rely on the incoming generation of Bulgarian players. Given that they finished third with such a young roster and Dimitrov not being all that fantastic, it proves them right to do so. (Update: Alas, all three of those guys are not on the roster this year. But they are still committing to the youth with 16-year old forward Aleksander Stanimirov; 18-year old defenseman Alexander Stamenov; 19-year old forward Nikola Tchaliov; and 19-year old goalie Andrea Karabadjakov to backup Dimitrov.)
I think the plan is that with another year under those young player’s belts, knowing players like Veselin Dikov and Ivan Hodulov did well at the club level, and the experience of Olympic qualifying giving the national team three more games of value to play in, the squad could be stronger this year. The problem with that is two-fold. The first is that this is still a five game tournament that will played in a week. A lot can go wrong early and set Bulgaria’s fate. The second is that Belgium is back and Georgia getting sent here will make it very difficult for Bulgaria to move past them. At the very least, they will have the home ice and the crowds – small as they may be – on their side. Historically, Sofia has been the place for them.
Belgium
The National Team Website: Royal Belgian Ice Hockey Federation – which also covers inline hockey too.
The Roster: Per Elite Prospects, here is the roster. When I wrote this up, it presumed that Arne Waumans would be involved given his great performance last year. Nope. Also, Belgium is bringing a 44-year old Belgian-Slovak forward Marek Ziarny with them for his first tourney. He’s been in Belgian hockey since 2001, so sure?
The Nickname per Wikipedia: N/A, per their Wikipedia page. The soccer team is called the Red Devils. Why not call the hockey team the Tri-Colored Devils? Or even the Royal Devils to match with the official name of the federation?
Last Year: They finished second in Division II Group B by going 4-0-0-1 and out-scoring the competition by a combined 33-10. The were great in all games but fell short in a 4-3 loss to UAE. That decided the group.
Revenge for Falling Short?: The Belgians had plenty of talent in 2023. The top 10 scorer list was a mix of UAE players and Belgian players with Sam Verelst, Vadim Gyesbreghs, Alec James, the incredibly named Dries Blockx, Ben Coolen, and Iniaz Steyaert tied for tenth in scoring. Their top goalie, Arne Waumans, posted up a save percentage above 91%. As a squad, they did great in the group. Again, they lost by one to the one team that was just better for first in the group, UAE.
The good news is that, provided the Belgians bring most of this roster back, they are set to contend right away. While Verelst and Gyesbreghs are over 30, they are still younger than 35. The goaltending tandem of Waumans and Jelle Lievens are young at age 25 and 21, respectively. Although Waumans not having played a game in 2023-24 is a concern; I wonder if he will even be available. (Update: He is not. It’s Lievens and 22-year old goalie Ignace Van Noten. Goaltending is now a concern for the Belgians.) Most of the roster is either in their early to mid-20s so they have plenty of years left in the proverbial tank. Dries Blockx is 26, he will continue to be part of the foundation in Belgian ice hockey. The younger end of the squad is being led by Alec James, a 24-year old Belgian-American who has been a consistent producer for Chiefs Lueven since he was a late teenager. Most of the roster also plays domestically in the BeNeLiga, a hockey league shared between Belgium and the Netherlands. There is familiarity among the squad and I expect most of them to return. (Update: They did.)
The not so good news, beyond Wauman’s situation (which is that he’s not playing also bringing only five defensemen), is the competition. Georgia was settling in the upper half of Division II Group B with two straight second place finishes before they were disqualified (the second second place finish would have been 2023). They are now in this group and they could be like UAE was to Belgium last year. Adding to the potential pressure is that the two nations will play on April 28, the final day of the tourney. They will know what they are playing for when the puck drops. If it is for first, it could be tense as the Belgians try to avenge how they fell short last year. The Belgians also have to be concerned about Bulgaria, who has a history of success in Sofia. Adding to the history is that the Belgians have only beaten the Bulgarians twice out of five games all-time in IIHF play. Last year was the second. They have the quality to do it again, but April 23 (the second day of play) will be telling.
Taiwan
The National Team Website: The Chinese Taipei Ice Hockey Federation
Yes, I understand that there was an agreement – the 1979 Nagoya Resolution – for them to be referred to as Chinese Taipei. I didn’t sign that agreement. They are Taiwan.
The Roster: None at time of writing.
The Nickname per Wikipedia: N/A, per their Wikipedia page. Why not the Republic? For the Republic of China a.k.a. Taiwan? No? Fine.
Last Year: They won Division III Group A and earned promotion to this group. Since North Korea did not show up, they only played four games. Taiwan won them all with a stunning total score of 30-4. Yes, this team averaged one goal against per game. Keep in mind Thailand swept this group this year and it was not like Turkmenistan and South Africa were doormats in 2023. Clearly, Taiwan was a cut above everyone else.
Brody & Hung-Ju Led the Way: The main men for Taiwan in 2023 were 21-year old goaltender Po-Yu “Brody” Hsiao and 34-year old mainstay forward, Hung-Ju Lin. H-J Lin has been with the men’s national team since 2009-10, a time when Taiwan was not playing regularly in the IIHF World Championships. Their return to the tourneys saw him just be a scoring machine in Division III level. And any time he put on the Taiwan jersey. Their Olympic qualifying efforts were short in 2023 but he put up 3 points in their 3 games. In the WCs, he tied Thai top scorer in group scoring with 11 points; Lin put up six goals and five assists. He was joined on the scoresheet frequently by Chang-Hsing Yang, defenseman Yen-Lin Shen, and forward Kuan-Ting Chen. The Taiwanese absolutely had the weapons to move on up to Division II.
Goaltender Hsiao is similarly built. The Vancouver-born goalie has kicked around youth leagues and played for San Diego State University in ACHA hockey. His numbers in 2022-23 and 2023-24 at the club level were not good. But put him in a Taiwan uniform and he’s like a wall. Even with splitting decisions in his two Olympic qualifying games, he posted a 92.5% save percentage. In the WCs, he had the best save percentage of the group with a staggering 95.89% while sharing the crease with Fu-Hsiang Kuei, who returned to hockey after a long absence (or played without anyone posting anything on EP about it) posted a 96.3% save percentage in his time last year. The Taiwanese had exceptional goaltending such that they could have carried any team to a group win. Given how much they scored, that eased pressure and only served to help the Hsiao-Kuei tandem.
Finding information about Taiwanese hockey is pretty hard. Not even Elite Prospects lists their club results for most of the roster that earned promotion last year. There is only information for Hsiao, 19-year old defenseman Yung-Hsuan “Omar” Wang who played for the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes, and French-Taiwanese skater Yohann Alzon, who suited up for Nice in France’s top league, Ligue Magnus. As far as I can tell, Alzon may be the only professional on the roster as ACHA and junior play is not professional. I presume much of the 2023 roster will play this year as they mostly did play for their Olympic qualifying games. We shall see if it bears out.
They are a wildcard like most promoted teams. That the Taiwanese had a top scorer and a top goaltender (and goaltending tandem) in the lower group will make it a good test to see how good they are at a higher level. That their top players from last year have played very well for their national team as opposed to any club team suggests to me that the team plays with tons of pride and motivation to succeed. Something that could catch an unsuspecting opponent not thinking much of the new squad. I will be curious to see if they can stick around. And if Hsiao-Kuei goalie some squads, maybe they have a chance to medal in Sofia.
New Zealand
The National Team Website: New Zealand Ice Hockey Federation
The Roster: Here it is, per Elite Prospects
The Nickname per Wikipedia: The Ice Blacks, per their Wikipedia page. That is consistent with New Zealand’s other national teams. At least it is better than Australia’s “Mighty Roos.”
Last Year: They finished fourth in Division II Group B with a record of 2-0-0-3 with 15 goals scored and 22 allowed. They beat Mexico (7-2) and Turkey (4-2) to stay up for another year – their eighth straight in Division II Group B.
Consistent Kiwis: New Zealand is entering their ninth straight IIHF World Championships in Division II Group B. They have finished second four times and third another two times. Never lower than fourth, in fact. The Ice Blacks, as they call them, have been consistent if nothing else.
Fourth was a good result given that they called up 30-year old goaltender Joel Hasselman to represent the team for the first time. He had good numbers in limited action with the Skycity Stampede of New Zealand’s Ice Hockey League. He did very well with a 91.6% save percentage, second only to Mate Tomljenovic at last year’s tourney. He returns in 2024 with his backup from last year, 30-year old New Zealand-Hungarian goalie Csaba Kercso-Magos. The hope is that Hasselman does it again in Sofia.
The hope is that the roster is ready to go as the majority of them play in New Zealand. The NZIHL season has not started yet. The only players on the roster with any 2023-24 team stats are winger Bradley Apps, who has two games with Melbourne in Australia (they just started their league); defenseman Flynn Hayward-Jones, who played for Groningen in Netherlands’ second tier of hockey; and 18-year old center Jacob Carey, who played for CBR Brave in four games (again, Australia just started their league) and 26 games for the New Jersey Rockets (his first time playing in America). Yes, there is a New Jersey connection on this squad. And Carey has been putting the up points with the Rockets (31 in 26 games) and CBR Brave (9 points in 4 games). The rest of the Ice Blacks roster will need to get the rink rust off as soon as possible to compete.
Carey is part of a youth movement on the roster that includes American-New Zealander Jackson Fontaine, Belarussian-New Zealander Ivan Dalmatau, Luke Simon, Luke Tappin, and Flynn Hayward-Jones. Only Hayward-Jones and Tappin were on last year’s team; this is a newer development. And a necessary one. The 2024 roster has plenty of older players who have been representing the squad for a long time, all dual-nationals as well. It does not have last year’s leading point scorer, Estonian-New Zealander Alexander Polozov. He had 7 assists. That points to an issue with the New Zealand roster: who is going to score the goals? No one on the team had more than two and, again, they scored just 15 last year. Even if Hasselman is great again, the team needs scorers. Perhaps the younger Kiwis being inserted into the national team set up is the hope that they can break out and put some pucks in the net. In a Division II-B group that is adding a Taiwan squad driven by fantastic goaltending play, that may be a very hopeful thought.
I think the squad could be good enough to survive another year in the group. That may be just fine for a nation whose league starts after these tourneys and is still unearthing new talent to develop at home and abroad. Maybe that will provide the breakthroughs they need to contend for first like they used to about a decade or so ago. Being able to get some points over the new guys on April 22 as well as Turkey on April 28 should do it. Anything else may be a bonus.
Turkey
The National Team Website: Ice Hockey Federation of Turkey
The Roster: Here it is, per Elite Prospects, although it looks more like a camp roster as it has four goalies, eight defensemen, and 16 forwards – including a 15 year old Emin Inandi. Either that or Turkey is bringing a big and young group to Sofia.
The Nickname per Wikipedia: N/A, per their Wikipedia page. The national soccer team is called the Crescent-Stars, which is a literal nickname. Or “Our Boys.” Given those, I’m fine with Turkey’s men’s national ice hockey team not having a nickname.
Last Year: They hosted Division II Group B last year in Istanbul. The home crowd and ice did not help them much. Turkey finished fifth at 1-0-0-4 with just 12 goals scored and 26 allowed. Their one win over Mexico (5-0) was enough to keep them up in this group for another year.
Survival, Please: Turkey was a worse New Zealand last year. Goaltending was quite good. Not as good as Joel Hasselman, but a 26-year old Tolga Bozaci posting up a 90.2% save percentage was solid given the games they were in. And he improved (!?!) to an 85.3% in club play this year with Zeytinburnu Belediyesi SK. His performance in Olympic qualifying was not good, but neither was Turkey, which does not bode well for this year’s group.
Turkey’s big problem was the same as New Zealand’s: who is scoring goals? They scored even fewer goals than the Ice Blacks as a team. Only two players scored more than one goal last year: 26-year old winger Ferhat Bakal and 19-year old Osman Emin Meydanci each had two. The other 18 skaters combined for eight goals. At least Turkey played their league and so the players should be in better form than New Zealand. Among the all-Turkish league roster, Bakal was third in total points as defenseman Emre Faner and Gokalp Solak put up more for Buz Adamlar GSK and Buz Beykoz, respectively. Those are two guys that can theorhetically help on the attack. But Bakal is expected to be the main guy – since his 22 goals in 2023-24 out-did the rest of the squad at the club level.
The one interesting thing about Turkey is how young they are. I suspect their EP roster is more of a camp roster than the full unit. If it is, that means Turkey is taking nine teenagers to the Division II Group B tourney, including 15-year old Emin Inandi and 16-year old goalie Kayra Aydos. In fact, Emre Faner and Gokalp Solak are the “old men” of the roster at ages 30 and 29, respectively. The Turkish national team is going through a transitional period and they are letting the youth play. It would be helpful if some of them got to play elsewhere and face newer challenges, but that they have a lot of young men involved is a start.
Should these players blossom – and Osman Emin Meydanci may be one of them – then the Turks will become a more competitive opponent at this level. Unfortunately, I thought the same of teams like Mexico, a similarly young squad, and they just suffered another relegation in a row. The Turkish team was very young last year too and won just one game. There will be a lot of pressure on Bozaci to be good because if he struggles, then Turkey could end up in Division III-A real soon. Survival is the goal for this year. Anything more should be seen as an accomplishment. (And if they need some inspiration about how wrong doubters like me could be, they should look up how Luxembourg went from dead in the water in 2023 to really solid in 2024 in the same group.)
Georgia
The National Team Website: The Georgian Ice Hockey Federation – which also contains information about their four-team league that features the Firey Crusaders as a team name.
The Roster: Here it is, per Elite Prospects. For their sake, I hope their eligibility paperwork is in order.
The Nickname per Wikipedia: N/A, per their Wikipedia page.
Last Year: They were in Division II Group A last year and did quite well for themselves. They went 4-0-0-1, with their only loss to the group winners in Spain. A 2-0 loss at that. The Georgians scored 20 goals and allowed just 8. However, the IIHF judged that player(s) on their team were ineligible. So they invalidated those results and sent Georgia down to Group B as punishment.
The Oldest Roster: EP’s roster page for Georgia has their average age at 30 with two players, Viktor Khachaturian and Nikoloz Bobokhidze not having any age listed. Which is odd. It is not as if there are a lot of old guys on the team; no one is over the age of 33. It is just that no one is under age of 27 either save for maybe the two unlisted-age players. It is also a shortened roster with just 11 forwards and 5 defensemen. Either some guys have to be added late or the Georgians are going to play a very busy week with less than 18 guys every game.
The team is loaded with Russian-Georgian dual-nationals (11: both goalies, two defensemen, and seven forwards) with the lone dual-national exception being Georgian-Finn forward Oliver Obolgogiani, who plays for Viikingit in Finland’s II-divisioona. Last year’s roster was similarly built but with even more Russian-Georgians. I’m wondering if an eligibility issue there led to their punishment and so this roster is a bit different and a bit older. I don’t see Kirill Lyalin, Danila Selsarev, or Maxim Lyalin – all under-30 Russian-Georgian players – on this year’s roster. Whether that was due to choice, availability, or eligibility; your guess is as good as mine.
Still, the fact that the majority of this roster still finished second in a better group means that they could do very well in a lower level in Group B this year. The tandem of Mikhail Fofanov and Ivan Starostin was excellent – 95.5% and 94.7% save percentages, respectively – in Group A. I do not think they will suffer against lesser competition. Georgia’s top three scorers in Ivan Karelin, Nikita Bukiya, and Oliver Obolgogiani are all returning. Karelin, in particular, was a force at the higher level last year with six goals and nine points in five games. Provided Georgia has the right motivation, perhaps adds two players to have a full roster, and ensured everyone’s eligibility is IIHF-compliant, then they could very well take Group B and move right back up to Group A in 2024.
Of course, I thought North Korea would do something similar in Division III Group B earlier this year and they fell short to the host nation to finish in second place. As ever: be strong, be wrong.
With Division III having played earlier this year, we know that the last place team in this group will be replaced by Thailand in 2025. I am sure the Thais will pay attention to how this group plays out. I really do think that Georgia and Belgium are the favorites. Their game against each other, literally the last one of this year’s tourney, may be the biggest one of the group. As much as Bulgaria has been successful when the tourney has been in Sofia, I am not so sure they have the talent against those nations. They may still medal anyway because the other three teams are either unknown (Taiwan) or struggling to score goals (New Zealand, Turkey).
I do think Turkey will struggle the most among the six. That Turkey-Taiwan game on April 23 will be huge for that end of the group. If New Zealand is really rusty, then they could be at risk of being replaced by the Thais too. But Turkey brought a young team last year and barely stayed up and they are doing it again with some even younger players on the roster.
In any case, the reward for winning Group B is a step up the ladder to Group A. Once this tourney ends, Division I’s groups will have started. I will attempt to have similar posts up for each. Division I will feature Dainius Zubrus’ Lithuania (who is hosting Group B); a Group A filled with interesting squads in Italy (hosts), Japan, and Slovenia; and the Swallows – which is the nickname for Estonia’s national team. After then will be the main World Championships featuring multiple New Jersey Devils players. Please leave your thoughts about the Group B tourney and its upcoming games in the comments. Thank you for reading.